Coralville project will bring more residential offerings to Iowa River Landing

CORALVILLE - On Friday, Coralville officials will celebrate the groundbreaking of yet another project on the city's rapidly growing Iowa River Landing.

The roughly $15 million project includes two mixed-use buildings and will add 77 residential units to the IRL.

City officials and representatives from developer Watts Group will host a 11 a.m. Friday groundbreaking for the property, which will be located on the corner of Ninth Street and Second Avenue.

Gary Watts, president of Watts Group, said the residential units will fit in perfectly with the restaurants, stores and businesses already on the IRL.

'We were excited to come in and add to that because it will have an urban feel and there will be a lot going on with the restaurants and stores,” Watts Group President Gary Watts said.

Adding to the roughly 30 residential units currently on the IRL, the project - which will include 13 townhouse condos for purchase and 64 luxury condos for rent - will more than double the residential offerings in the city's rapidly growing redevelopment area.

'It's a really key project, it's on a very prominent corner in the Iowa River Landing and it adds more people to the district that will actually be living there,” said Coralville City Administrator Kelly Hayworth. 'It's going to be a fantastic addition.”

Also included in the project will be the addition of about 16,000 square feet of ground floor commercial retail space among the two adjacent buildings and a connected underground parking facility.

Both buildings are expected to be completed by spring of 2016.

Coralville Mayor John Lundell described the project as a perfect fit for the IRL, which already includes the University of Iowa Health Care clinic, Von Maur, 30hop and Backpocket Brewery.

'It just continues to build out what our vision for the IRL has been, where people can live, work and play,” Lundell said.

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